It was the early days of the apprenticeship. We had studied the numerous hand tools (and countless planes) and went over their uses. We had finally advanced to basic joinery: butt joints, rabbets, dados… but I knew that dovetails were looming in the distance. I would be remiss if I said I was not intimidated by laying out and cutting them by hand.
New tools, advanced techniques, and a new level of focus were all required. Significant assistance was given on the first attempt, but the training wheels immediately came off. A good master allows his student to make mistakes. After all, you never learn anything when things go right. But a good teacher stops his student before he destroys his work, taking the time to correct and educate. There was no shortage of education in my early attempts.
The pursuit of mastery in any endeavor is a long road that typically never ends. There are twists and turns, but the pursuit of knowledge is both endless and ageless. New pursuits will be complex, but competency is gained through repetition, and eventually, you can bend your work to your will. Everything is hard, before it is easy.
Such a great rule. My favorite quote on this, which I learned from an old trapper while he was teaching me to skin a raccoon, is "The first 1000 are hard, after that it gets pretty easy."